Rachel is a Legal Executive in the property team at Davenports Harbour. She is an Associate member of the NZ Institute of Legal Executives. Rachel and the Property Team manage a wide range of property matters from simple residential sales and purchases through to complex apartment developments, banking security and restructuring.
Gary and Barbara were on the hunt for a section to build their dream home. They had visited multiple sites with agents to find the right place for their new home.
They found the perfect section which was ideal for the design they had in mind for their new home. The site was private and away from the main road. The section they were purchasing was the last section to be sold by the vendor in the area.
Gary and Barbara signed an unconditional agreement to purchase the property which was accepted by the vendor. Gary and Barbara settled the purchase of the section three weeks later.
Three months after settlement Gary became unwell. The plans to build their dream home were put on hold for 6 months. Unfortunately Gary health deteriorated so much so that their building plans would no longer suit their needs.
Reluctantly, Gary and Barbara made the decision to sell the section. They needed somewhere closer to town and easier for Gary and Barbara to manage.
They engaged a real estate agent to sell the section and within a couple of weeks had received an offer. The price was right and they signed it without delay. They had already committed themselves to a purchase an unit and needed the cash to pay down their debts.
The agreement was sent to their solicitor and preparations were underway for a quick settlement. Their solicitor had noticed that on the further terms of sale, the parties had agreed to additional vendor warranties. Gary and Barbara had provided a warranty to the purchaser that power and phone services would be supplied to the section. Gary and Barbara had simply assumed that the services were already provided to the site when the developer had completed the subdivision. They were not concerned with providing this assurance to the purchaser.
On further inspection of the section it was discovered that phone and power services had not been supplied to the section by the developer. Gary and Barbara were now committed to sell the property to the purchaser with these services connected.
Gary and Barbara urgently contacted the power and phone company in the area. They obtained quotes for the service providers to have power and phone installed to the section. The providers indicated that the installation was going to cost them $20,000!
